The word ‘doctor’ in its original Latin means ‘teacher’. This overlap between clinician and teacher certainly still applies at the moment, where students on clinical attachments are taught by doctors working in the public (teaching) hospital system. Despite this formalised system of practicing doctors teaching medical students, there is no formal teaching training in the medical curriculum at UWA. Having recognised this fact, WAMSS, with Professor Fiona Lake, initiated the ‘Student Grand Rounds’ (SGR) program in 2005. This program involves training clinical students in basic teaching techniques using the ‘Teaching on the Run’ course, developed by Professor Lake to assist clinicians. After this training, groups of third year (pre-clinical) students are paired with these student teachers for clinical tutorials.

The other motivating factor for the establishment of the SGRs was the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) conducted in third year to assess the standard of students’ clinical examination. It was felt within the student body that there was insufficient practical teaching in this area, and that greater exposure to patients with physical signs would be highly beneficial. By focussing the SGRs on clinical examination for third year students, it was hoped that we could help bridge the teaching gap.

To become involved with SGR as a tutor, or for more infomation on how to sign up as a student, please contact your year reps or the This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

In 2006, a lack of appropriate and constructive continuity between committees from year to year was identified as a major barrier to WAMSS's growth as a society. To combat this problem, the WAMSS Foundation was created. The Foundation is an advisory committee made up of people from third year right through to after graduation (interns & residents). Members of the Foundation serve for extended terms spanning several years and there is no power structure within the Foundation, save that of the Chair to co-ordinate its activities. The Foundation explores plans for the Committee to undertake and current projects include:

Finance Project
To establish stable finances for WAMSS into the future

Official Documents Project
To review our official documents and ensure that the practice matches the theory :)

WAMSS Review
To gather input from all students regarding WAMSS's operations and to propose plans for restructure where appropriate, to ensure that WAMSS remains efficient and relevant into the future.

Through this advisory committee, we hope to provide WAMSS with some continuity from year to year and the ability to make plans that can span several years. To find out more about the Foundation, please contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dr YES (Dr Youth Education Sessions) is a program involving groups of trained medical student volunteers visiting schools and delivering presentations about adolescent health and lifestyle issues to year 10-12 students. The presentations complement the school's health education curriculum by using sexual health, alcohol and other drugs or mental health as a context to emphasise the role of GP's and encourage young people to access health care.

The program was piloted in 1997 on a small scale, involving only 5 medical students. In 2000, 44 medical students were trained to deliver Dr YES to seven schools across the metropolitan area, reaching just over 1000 students. Schools contact the AMA(WA) Foundation to organise the session.

The volunteers for the Dr YES project are all medical students, from years one to six at the University of Western Australia. Currently there are over 130 students trained to deliver sessions to any school requesting the service. At each session, there are approximately five to ten volunteers. This equates to one medical student per six school students for the small group discussions.

For more information on Dr YES, please contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Dr YES is a project of AMA WA. 

SPINRPHEX is a club for nursing and medical students who have an interest in the many exciting opportunities offered  by the country.

Some members are from the country, others are from the city.  Some plan to live in the country, others want to work there for  a shorter time, and some are just curious. However, we all share a common interest in rural health and the country life.

For more information, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it directly. 

The Medical Student Association Notre Dame (MSAND) aims:

• to advance and promote the interests of medical students at the University of Notre Dame Australia
• to provide both social and educational opportunities to enrich the personal and professional development of students
• to engage and foster relationships with other student associations and relevant professional bodies
• to ensure that students are involved with decisions relating to education and careers by the university, government or other bodies
• to promote the health of the WA community through involvement in relevant community projects.

The challenges of building are new medical student society are enormous. We have looked to the Australian Medical School Association (AMSA) as well as to other universities’ societies for leadership and direction. At the same time, we aim to make our society unique in that it must deliver services relevant to graduate students.

For more information, please visit the MSAND website

The UDSS is as the name suggests, the Dental Students Society, and all Dental students automatically become members free of charge. With the Dental School being located off the main campus, the UDSS provides a variety of facilities and organises various events for the students, to ensure the entire university experience can be enjoyed.

For more information, please contact UDSS directly. 

HSS Stands for the Health Science Society .

HSS is the Faculty Society of the Health Science Students at the University of Western Australia. It represents Health Science Students, who study Public Health and a Science major of their choice. Health Science Students may combine their degree with Commerce, Law, Music to name a few. Therefore HSS represents a wide array of students from many disciplines.

HSS is run by a committee of around 15 health science students who are elected annually. The committee consists of representatives from each of the 4 or 5 (combined degree) years of the course in addition to office bearers and other positions of responsibility.

For more information, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it directly. 

SMA stands for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. We began in 1992 as a Christian medical student group based at the University of Western Australia in Perth, WA. Since then we have expanded to cover most of the healthcare science courses available in WA, including dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. If you are a Christian healthcare student, or are interested in Christianity, then SMA is for you.

For more information, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it directly.